Win a Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G LTE and a $250 Gift Card

The Amazon Android Appstore is giving away 5 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G LTE packages, each complete with a cover and a $250 gift card Ultimate HD Entertainment Giveaway. Follow the link to both Like the Amazon Appstore for Android page on Facebook, then enter the giveaway (two steps).

Blog News -- Comments Wanted

I've been working hard on some changes to the blog, in response to a few reader requests. I'm splitting the blog (and it's twitter/RSS feeds) into two (and eventually three) segments. The first split starts today - no more Erotica here on the main blog, so that the feeds and Kindle subscriptions are more family and work friendly. Instead, all Erotica and most LGBT fiction will appear in my new blog, Erotica Books on the Knob (I know! catchy title, right?). I'm currently thinking that I may duplicate the Romance books there (other than those from Christian publishers), but want your input: do you want zero duplication or the occasional duplicate in the Romance category?

I've flagged the new blog for Adult content, but all that means is that you have to click an extra box telling Google that you are aware of the content. I have the RSS feeds (including email subscriptions) and twitter feeds set up now and it looks like the Facebook page is now working, as well.

Speaking of Facebook, did you know that the more individual posts from a page that you "Like", the more likely the posts are to show up on your home page news feed? Facebook used to show you all the pages from Pages that you liked as a whole, but now limits who gets to see a page (when this hit, I saw my reach/audience drop from 1500+ per day to under 300, so I know a lot of you started missing posts on Facebook). So, if you miss seeing the posts on Facebook, be sure to head over to the Books on the Knob Facebook Page and "Like" a few posts.

For future plans, I am considering the same split for books from Christian publisher. These publishers have a lot of free books, with most of them repeats, and can be controversial for some readers. It is a bit of work to move, though, so I haven't started and would like your comments. Moving the posts would mean a leaner blog here (probably 8 or so posts every Monday would move, plus some others during the week) and those who specifically want Christian Fiction/Non-fiction and nothing else would have a new place to read. It would mean, though, that those who want both will need to subscribe to both sites (which is simple using Google Reader) and the same for those who get the Kindle subscription.

In the meantime, feel free to check out the new blog and let me know what you think. It's set up a lot like this one, but there may be a gadget or two on the right sidebar that isn't fully functional.

Today's Deals

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941 ($1.99), by William Shirer.

Book Description
A radio broadcaster and journalist for Edward R. Murrow at CBS, William Shirer was new to the world of broadcast journalism when he began keeping a diary while in Europe during the 1930s. It was in 1940, still a virtual unknown, that Shirer wondered whether his reminiscences of the collapse of the world around Nazi Germany could be of any interest or value as a book.

Shirer’s Berlin Diary, which is considered the first full record of what was happening in Germany during the rise of the Third Reich, first appeared in 1941. The book was an instant success. But how did Shirer get such a valuable firsthand account? He had anonymous sources willing to speak with him, provided their identity remained protected and disguised so as to avoid retaliation from the Gestapo. Shirer recorded his and others’ eyewitness views to the horror that Hitler was inflicting on his people in his effort to conquer Europe. Shirer continued his job as a foreign correspondent and radio reporter for CBS until Nazi press censors made it virtually impossible for him to do his job with any real accuracy. He left Europe, taking with him the invaluable, unforgettable (and horrific) contents of his Berlin Diary.

Berlin Diary brings the reader as close as any reporter has ever been to Hitler and the rise of the Third Reich. Shirer’s honest, lucid and passionate reporting of the brutality with which Hitler came to power and the immediate reactions of those who witnessed these events is for all time.

Time's Echo ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), by Pamela Hartshorne, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (no US edition).

Book Description
York , 1577: Hawise Aske smiles at a stranger in the market, and sets in train a story of obsession and sibling jealousy, of love and hate and warped desire. Drowned as a witch, Hawise pays a high price for that smile, but for a girl like her in Elizabethan York, there is nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. Four and a half centuries later, Grace Trewe, who has travelled the world, is trying to outrun the memories of being caught up in the Boxing Day tsunami. Her stay in York is meant to be a brief one. But in York Grace discovers that time can twist and turn in ways she never imagined. Drawn inexorably into Hawise’s life, Grace finds that this time she cannot move on. Will she too be engulfed in the power of the past?

The River ($9.99 Kindle, $1.99 B&N), by Michael Neale, is the Nook Daily Find.

Book Description
Gabriel Clarke is mysteriously drawn to The River, a ribbon of frothy white water carving its way through steep canyons high in the Colorado Rockies. The rushing waters beckon him to experience freedom and adventure.

But something holds him back—the memory of the terrible event he witnessed on The River when he was just five years old—something no child should ever see.

Chains of fear and resentment imprison Gabriel, keeping him from discovering the treasures of The River. He remains trapped, afraid to take hold of the life awaiting him.

When he returns to The River after years away, his heart knows he is finally home. His destiny is within reach. Claiming that destiny will be the hardest—and bravest—thing he has ever done.

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Ginger Pye ($1.99), by Eleanor Estes.

Book Description
Eleanor Estes’s Ginger Pye, a 1952 Newbery Medal winner, is a warm, witty mystery set in a small-town American community. Ginger Pye, the star of the show, is the very smart dog that ten-year-old Jerry Pye buys for a hard-earned dollar. The most famous pup in Cranbury (a town between Boston and New York), Ginger knows many tricks, is as loyal as he is smart, and steals the hearts of everyone he meets . . . until someone steals him! Will Jerry and his sister Rachel ever be able to find their beloved terrier?

Don’t miss the sequel, Pinky Pye!

Grade Level: 3 and up

Free Book - Always the Baker, Never the Bride (K/N/E)

Always the Baker, Never the Bride (Main/UK), by Sandra D. Bricker, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and ChristianBook, courtesy of Christian publisher Abingdon Press.

Book Description
Thirty-six-year-old Emma Rae Travis has been baking specialty cakes and melt-in-your-mouth pastries at The Backstreet Bakery in historic Roswell, just outside of Atlanta, for the last six years. But here's the rub about her job as a baker Emma is diabetic. When she tastes her creations, it can only be in the most minute portions. Emma is considered an artisan for the stunning creme brulee wedding cake that won her the Passionate Palette Award last year, but she's never even had one full slice of it.

When Jackson Drake hears about this local baker who has won a prestigious award for her wedding cake artistry, he tells his assistant to be sure and include her in the pastry tastings scheduled at his new wedding destination hotel the following week. And for Jackson, that particular day has started out badly with two workmen trapped in a broken elevator and a delivery of several dozen 300-thread-count bed linens in the wrong size abandoned in the lobby. But when the arrogant baker he met a week prior in Roswell stumbles into the dining room with a platter of pastries and a bucketful of orders, he knows for certain: It's going to be a really rotten day.

Can these two ill-suited players master the high-wire act and make a go of their new business venture? Or will they take each other crashing downward, without a net? And will the surprise wedding at The Tanglewood be theirs?

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.
Get the free ebook from ChristianBook.

Today's Deals

It's Black Friday Week at Amazon and there will be extra lightning deals all week, as well as daily deals in various departments, including Books, Music (including several Christmas Albums from $3.99 to $5.99) and Instant Video; Amazon even has a Black Friday Kindle Books page, but so far it is just the $3.99 or less books for the month.

Today's Kindle Daily Deal is Against the Law ($1.99), by Kat Martin.

Book Description
At thirty-two Dev is "mostly retired" from Raines Investigations, content to run operations from his sprawling Arizona home. But Dev has never been able to say no to a beautiful woman, so when Lark Delaney comes to him for help, the former U.S. Army Ranger from Wind Canyon gets back in the game.

Lark is sexy, successful and dedicated to tracking down the baby girl her sister gave up for adoption. It should be a straightforward case, but it's not long before Dev uncovers a shady adoption ring and worse—the child's parents have been murdered and the little girl has been taken.

As the case grows dangerous and Lark needs him more than ever, Dev can't ignore his growing attraction for her. He also can't trust his judgment with women or the emotions he's long-since buried. But there's a chance, if he gets this right and saves Lark's niece, that he'll end up saving himself, too.

Ninepins ($1.57 / £0.99 UK), by Rosy Thorton, is the Kindle Deal of the day for those in the UK (the US edition is $9.32).

Book Description
Deep in the Cambridgeshire fens, Laura is living alone with her 12-year-old daughter Beth, in the old tollhouse known as Ninepins. She’s in the habit of renting out the pumphouse, once a fen drainage station, to students, but this year she’s been persuaded to take in 17-year-old Willow, a care-leaver with a dubious past, on the recommendation of her social worker, Vince. Is Willow dangerous or just vulnerable? It’s possible she was once guilty of arson; her mother’s hippy life is gradually revealed as something more sinister; and Beth is in trouble at school and out of it. Laura’s carefully ordered world seems to be getting out of control. With the tension of a thriller, NINEPINS explores the idea of family, and the volatile and changing relationships between mothers and daughters, in a landscape that is beautiful but – as they all discover - perilous.

Young adult title Catching Jordan ($1.99 Kindle, B&N), by Miranda Kenneally, is the Nook Daily Find, price matched on Kindle.

Book Description
ONE OF THE BOYS

What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though- she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.

But everything she's ever worked for is threatened when Ty Greeen moves to her school. Not only is he an amazing QB, but he's also amazingly hot. And for the first time, Jordan's feeling vulnerable. Can she keep her head in the game while her heart's on the line?

Today's Kindle Kids Daily Deal is Ralph Tells a Story ($1.99), by Abby Hanlon.

Book Description
Nothing ever happens to Ralph. So every day when it’s time to write stories, Ralph thinks really hard. He stares at his paper. He stares at the ceiling. But he has no stories! With the help of his classmates, Ralph realizes that a great story can be about something very little . . . and that maybe he really does have some stories to tell. Debut author/illustrator Abby Hanlon’s endearing text and charming watercolor and colored pencil illustrations prove that writing can be fun! This story works nicely with Lucy Calkins’ Writer’s Workshop model of teaching.

Grade Level: 1st and up